The First Step On My Weight Loss Journey Required Bravery

“Ma’am, we’ve received an anonymous call from a concerned citizen. They believe your life may be in danger.”

That’s what the police officer said to me as he and his partner stood at the front door of my home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, eyeing my driver’s license to be sure I was indeed Naomi.

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I was utterly confused as to why someone would believe my life was in danger. I mean, I was just selling all of my belongings on Craigslist and moving to a part of the country I had never been to before. What was suspicious about that?

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You see, I was fed up with my worthless life and needed to make a drastic change. I needed to start my life over again in a new area, in the hopes I could escape all of the things I didn’t like about my life. Of course, that didn’t exactly happen, and that’s a story for another day.

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I moved to Spokane, Washington just after my 25th birthday.

I got behind the wheel of my blue Ford Contour and took off. Not confident in my car’s ability to get me to my destination, I silently prayed every 3 or 4 hours as I drove through the plains of Kansas, the mountains of Colorado, a snowstorm in Wyoming, the desolate lands of Montana, and the utter gorgeousness of northern Idaho and Washington.

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I arrived at my tiny studio apartment in the historic district of Browne’s Addition with just the belongings I could fit in my car, a couple thousand dollars in my checking account, a bike strapped to the back of my car, and my dog, Brandy, riding shotgun.

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I didn’t know anyone in my new city. I didn’t know where anything was located. I didn’t even have a job. For the first time in my life, I was truly independent and had no one to fall back on.

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It was both terrifying and exhilarating.

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When I told people how I ended up in Spokane, the response encouraged me. It was something I had never been told before. “Wow, Naomi. You’re brave.”

I felt that deep in my soul. That was what I needed to hear to fuel the next steps to transform my life. And so I did.

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What’s something you felt brave for doing in your life?

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